


n-city

by kihyxns



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Bullying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Gang Violence, Gen, High School, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Protective Lee Taeyong, References to Drugs, hurt jeno
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-06 15:28:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20509271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kihyxns/pseuds/kihyxns
Summary: ever since Jeno lost his dad, he’s been 'adopted' the local gang, now he’s getting bullied at school (and attempts to try and hide this). the school now meets the (gang) family.





	n-city

**Author's Note:**

> wow homies i finally finished this, it has taken ages but i've always wanted to write a gang au and NCT presented me with the perfect opportunity to !! (this might become a series of everyone else's origin stories but don't hold me to it, i might do it maybe).
> 
> i really hope you enjoy this, it was a lot of fun to write !!! please leave kudos and comments down below !!!! <3
> 
> trigger warnings  
reference to anxiety/panic attack  
bullying (verbal and physical)  
violence (jeno gets beat badly, my poor baby)

Jeno grew up in a pretty sheltered community. He didn’t know of the existence of gangs and mafia’s until he was 16, after the loss of his father. A member of the local gang came and nearly bashed the door in, splintering the hinges. It had been three days since his father was declared dead, and it still hadn’t sunk in that he’s gone. Jeno was merely spacing out in the living room when he heard the fist pounding on the door. 

He could barely overhear the conversation taking place in the living room with the fuzziness in his head. His older sister ushers him over to the doorway, holding his shoulders as he witnesses the fighting between his mum and a random man. He hears snippets but they’re talking too fast for him to properly understand, _‘just give us a few more days!’_ and _‘I’ll get the money, I promise.’_

Seems like the man harassing his mother for this money isn’t letting up, he wants it now, right now. Before he can even register the situation his mum is wrenching him out of his sisters grasp and throwing him towards the man, ‘just take him and leave us alone.’ The man seems to not care, placing a hand on his shoulder and moving to the still open entrance. 

**_‘Pleasure doing business with you ma’am,’_**

—

Jeno felt bitter at the start, quickly isolating himself from the other gang members that were now technically his adopted family. Taeyong turned him around eventually and a year later he’s happily settled. He soon picked up self-defence, with Jaehyun being his, Jaemin, Renjun, Chenle, and Donghyuck’s teacher. Even though the boys in the rest of his ‘unit’ have all come from troubled backgrounds, they’re the nicest group he’s ever met.

Taeyong insisted he was to remain at his old school, keeping as close as possible to his ‘normal’ life as he could. That doesn’t mean he didn’t start to participate in the gang the second after Jaehyun approved his self-defence skills. He’s only allowed to partake in the casual drug-running and dealing with petty criminals, but nothing major, not until he’s deemed ready. He’s not angry about that though, he’s still technically a minor and the only way he can get around the city is on a skateboard so he’s not very equipped for gang life as it is. 

He keeps his ‘new life’ under wraps from anyone at school, mainly due to Taeyong’s insistence but also he doesn’t want anyone else knowing either. He lives across the other side of the city now in an apartment block with 17 other gang members and he manages to juggle everything all at once somehow. Dealing with the massive shift in his life was going smoothly until his school life kicked up dramatically. 

—

The alarm blares at 6 AM, throwing Jeno out of his peaceful sleep. He clambers out of bed and hurriedly presses the stop button, hoping he hasn’t woken anyone else in the small apartment. He moves efficiently around, checking in on all of his other members as he brushes his teeth. He’s ready and eating by the time Mark emerges from his room. Mark has long graduated school, mainly due to the fact he stopped properly attending middle school. He’s only ever awake at this time to send all everyone off as the unofficial leader of the unofficial unit of the gang (most of them aren’t old enough to join in on real gang activities and so they’re usually all grouped). Jeno chucks his canvas trainers on, knowing he’ll get pulled up on it, not that he cares. Throwing his backpack on and hauling his skateboard under his arm, he nabs a slice of toast from Mark’s pile and walks towards the door. 

“Hey, have a good day,” Mark says, pressing a chaste kiss to Jeno’s left temple before he leaves. He doesn’t get to see the others before he has to leave. Soon the wind is rushing through his hair and he’s on his way.

Jeno makes it in just before the bell which is perfect because he never has anyone to hang out with before or after school anyway. He prepares himself to hear the same old drilling questions about university or general ‘next steps’ which he always tunes out of because the gang is his literal next step. Even though he’s in his final year and the whole idea of getting any qualifications seems pointless, he still tries hard for Taeyong’s sake. The leader loves to attach the report cards of his six school-going members to the fridge, which means he can’t slack off, regardless of how much he wants to. 

The final bell rings, Jeno is quickly out of his seat and walking out through the doors before anyone can say anything. He intends to get home fast, knowing that he has 1:1 training with Jaehyun in the evening. Before he can make it past the gates he sees a group of bullies in his year surround this small first year, harassing him for money. From the look of defeat on the boy's face, he can tell this is not the first time this has happened. Instead of weaving around the aggressive group of guys he pushes through the circle, standing defiantly in front of the younger boy. 

“At least pick on someone your size,”

Jeno doesn’t regret what he’s done when the first wave of kicks hits him in the stomach, not when he sees the first year move silently out of the group, sending him a sad, but grateful smile. No, he doesn’t regret it one bit. After they’re done with him he thinks that’s that, he’s been the hero and now he can just go home and forget all about it — unfortunately, that was just the beginning. 

—

The next day rolls around, but the bullying doesn’t finish there. Throughout the day the group makes it their mission to shove him into other students, push him into lockers, and ruin all of his school work. When no one's looking they’ll get physical and beat him up (he doesn’t try to fight back). None of the younger students get picked on anymore, which forms a type of hero-complex within him, doesn’t make up for the pain in his ribs though. 

It’s not the school he’s particularly concerned about, it's training with Jaehyun and general being around his other gang members that worry him slightly. There’s no doubt in his mind that they would try to step in, which would be even worse because then everyone would find out he’s in a gang, and he’d have to deal with the fall out at home as well. Plus he’s in a group with some of the most wanted criminals in Seoul right now, that wouldn’t go down well with the headmaster. So he merely grins and bears it, rinse, wash, repeat. 

The skateboard home from school is already starting to press on those bodily limits, and he hasn’t even started his training for the day. He gets a welcome from Mark who’s already changed and ready (once a week he joins in with the small group) before chucking his schoolwork to the side. Soon he’s ready, walking down with the rest of the boys. His arms are covered by the long t-shirt he’s wearing, which already he knows will make him overheat, but he can’t risk the questions asked if everyone sees the bruises pattered over his mainly upper arms. Jaehyun gives him a questioning eyebrow slant to his outfit choice but doesn’t press the younger, letting him get on with wrapping his hands instead. 

His ribs burn when he moves too harshly, his legs ache as he runs laps around the room, his arms pull uncomfortably when he punches too hard. Jaehyun notices, out of the corner of his eye, but doesn’t say anything, trusting Jeno to come to him if something is wrong. The two hours come to an eventual end, with Jeno feeling three feet from collapsing. They all trudge back to the apartment, with Jeno retreating into his bedroom, peeling off his shirt to reveal a cacophony of bruises painting his ribs, stretching from his shoulder-blade to just slightly above his hipbone. The mixture of dark reds, deep purples and off-putting greens is a sight to see, if they weren’t formed from such a violent nature, he may have considered them beautiful. 

He picks out the box of first aid supplies from underneath his bed, gently wrapping the fabric around his ribs in an attempt to secure the broken ones. He’d never be able to do it as well as Doyoung, but there’s no way he’d go to him for help, not with this anyway. Without taking a shower or eating dinner, he falls into a fitful sleep, haunted by the same burn of his ribs. 

—

Even when Jeno is made up more of black and blue bruises than his normal skin colour, the bullies don’t seem to slow down. They avoid obvious places like his face and mainly taunt him for it as well, _‘we can’t fuck up that face of yours, can we pretty boy?’_ or shout at him to fight back, attempting to gaud him into a fight. It never works, Jeno knows that he’s not allowed to fight-back in situations like this, otherwise he’ll get an earful from Taeyong about it. He starts to withdraw from his home-life due to the intense amount of bullying, his grades begin to drop slowly, and his attitude towards training has become almost self-destructive, pushing himself to the absolute limit day-in, day-out. 

One day, as he sits on the sofa, mindlessly ‘watching’ a drama on TV, Johnny walks into the apartment, ushering him along to Taeyong’s office. He has zero clues why he’s been randomly taken, alone, to meet Taeyong, but he just runs with it, hoping to dear god that it isn’t what he thinks it is. 

Stepping foot in Taeyong’s office always makes him nervous, even if he gets to sit in the little chairs off to the side, not in front of the massive desk. Taeyong never calls any of the younger members into the office unless it’s pretty serious, they all usually congregate in the main apartment anyway so he gets to see them frequently regardless. Taeyong motions for Jeno to sit, waving Johnny out of the room. Jeno does as he’s told, cautiously. Taeyong has that glint in his eye when something is too exciting to be kept hold of, which makes Jeno think it’s not about the bullying. 

“Jeno-yah, I think it’s about time you got your gang tattoo,” 

That was not what he was expecting at all. Within a couple of months of joining the gang, he had noticed that all the members had a certain tattoo in various places. Mark has one just above his collarbone, Donghyuck’s on his ankle, Jisung’s is positioned right under his jawline. He’s ready to get it, after completely submitting himself to the gang, there’s no reason for him to ever consider leaving. He looks into Taeyong’s eyes for a second, witnessing the fierce loyalty and care that are enclosed within them, and nods in agreement. 

With a few more confirmation nods and yes’, Jeno is taken off to Doyoung’s makeshift medical centre along with Taeyong. After much deliberation on where the tattoo was exactly going to go, it’s decided that he’ll have the gang sign up the inner side of his left wrist, where it can be easily hidden with sleeves or a watch, but also visible in plain sight. It hurts just a little, but considering the sizeable bruises patterning his back right now the needle barely makes a dent in his pain cycle. What does look painful is when Taeyong pulls off his shirt, revealing the extent of his tattoos to Jeno for the first time. Right over his solar plexus, he has the gang sign, within the grooves of his ribs he has the hangul/hanzi of every name of the members. 

It only takes Doyoung minutes to ink Jeno’s hangul in the last rung of Taeyong’s ribs, where it will stay forever. Then, once both of them all wrapped and Jeno is instructed on how to properly care for his new tattoo, do they retire back to the apartment. In a type of tradition, Taeyong invites Jeno over, mainly to coddle the younger as he does so often with the rest of the unofficial unit. It’s pretty late and the apartment is quiet once, not bustling with the noise of 12 other men. 

Taeyong sends Jeno to wash up, seeing the apparent tiredness in the younger. He stands in the kitchen, with Johnny opposite him, feeling the slight sting under his wrapping. He wonders, silently, for just a second, not knowing whether to voice his concerns. Johnny, being able to read the leader like the book, crooks his eyebrow, looking towards the younger. 

“Out with it,”

“With what?”

“I can tell you’re worrying, I just don’t know what about yet,”

“Jeno… Does he seem a little off? Like he’s isolating himself away?”

“He doesn’t laugh at my jokes as much, which is weird because usually, he’s the only one nice enough to,”

“I don’t know, maybe he’s just had a bad day, I can’t tell,”

“Why don’t you ask Mark to keep an eye on him?”

“That’d probably be best,” Taeyong muses, getting out his phone from his pocket. He knows that Mark isn’t busy with anything pressing right now, he just leaves Johnny to wait for Jeno and makes the call. 

Within ten minutes Jeno is out of the shower, his hair making his hoodie slightly wet. Taeyong soon ends the call with Mark when Jeno comes into view, wrapping a warm arm around him as he leads him towards the sofa. Jeno is situated on top of Taeyong’s chest, his legs intertwined with the leaders, his head tucked securely into the juncture of Taeyong’s neck and shoulders. Jeno smiles. He feels a calm wash over him, a stark contrast between the days of pain and anger he’s recently been feeling. Taeyong’s arm is looped around his back, pressing slightly uncomfortably into his bruising, but he doesn’t mention it, not wanting anyone to find out about the bullying yet. His newly tattooed armrests gently by the side of Taeyong’s ribs, making sure that the wrapping doesn’t get damaged in his sleep. Slowly, he drifts off. 

—

Even as Taeyong sends Jeno through the door with his skateboard, all ready for school, he feels a little on edge. He has an innate sense that something is wrong but he cannot put his finger on it. He does have a gang to run and outstanding jobs to complete, he can’t just stand at the doorway all day and keep think, think, thinking about Jeno. So he doesn’t. Pulling himself away from the door, he soon makes his way out, downstairs to his office. 

Across the city, Jeno is trying (and failing) to escape from a crowd of boys that are coming after him. He can’t get too beaten up today, he knows that he’s been scheduled for a drug run his afternoon and cannot afford to let Mark down. Despite his best efforts, they corner him, at the edge of the campus, running him down to his last breath. His eyes water as they kick his back and legs, adding more and more bruises to his already broken skin. Once again he does not bother fighting back, knowing that it’s pointless to even try. He’ll just agitate them anyway. Eventually, they get bored, walking off, laughing and joking like the last 15 minutes never even happened. 

It feels hopeless, but he finishes the school day, rushing back home to start on his drug run. It takes him a little longer than usual, which will only concern Mark when he gets home late, but he completes the job regardless. Afterwards, he gets straight into the gym for training with Jaehyun, not wanting to miss a single day. He doesn’t even bother eating, taking the quickest shower to simply washing the accumulating sweat off his body and easily falling into bed. The days feel all the same now.

—

It feels impossible to reach but he does. He breaks. Literally, but mainly mentally. After countless assaults on his body, the constant fear of being ganged up on, he snaps. Instead of letting the bullies just kick and punch him he fights back, letting out one good punch before it’s returned straight back to him. That day he doesn’t skate home, he limps. 

One day he trails in the door with a split open eyebrow. He doesn’t seem to notice the stinging feeling around his eye, nor the one drying blood that’s surrounding the area until Jisung looks up at him with a look of mock horror. 

“Uh, hyung, what happened to your eyebrow?” Jisung asks, glancing over at Mark. 

Jeno gently touches it and immediately feels the half-dried blood, “oh, I didn’t think I’d split it open,” he sneaks a quick look in a mirror, shit, it’s bad, “oops.” 

He feels as if he’s looking inward on himself as Jisung pulls him along to Doyoung, merely allowing the younger boy to guide him along. The pair bump into Jaehyun before they get there, their elder looking on the two with confusion. Jisung opens his mouth, getting ready to explain what he knows, before Jaehyun stops him short, already grasping the situation. 

“It’s okay Jisung-ah, I’ll take Jeno, you go get ready for training,” Jaehyun says, placing a gentle hand on Jeno’s back, readying himself to guide the younger. 

“Okay hyung, see you later,” Jisung calls back, quickly walking back to the dorms. 

Jaehyun recognises that zoned out, glassy look in Jeno’s eyes. Whatever has gone on, he doesn’t want to talk about it. Jaehyun essentially pushes Jeno along to Doyoung, noticing a slight limp on his left leg. He just lets the boy walk in silence, knowing that’s all he wants to do. 

Doyoung is a flurry of movement, constantly, unless one of the younger team members gets placed in front of him, at that point he becomes calm, maybe even composed. Jaehyun carefully pushes Jeno onto the seat, watching Doyoung flick on the lights out of the corner of his eye. He then steps back, watching over the situation from his position on the wall. Jeno is fiddling idly with his hands, seeming to not want to be in the exact place he is in right now. Jaehyun guesses this is just under the surface of something that he doesn’t want anyone to find out about. 

“Hey,” Doyoung taps Jeno lightly on the cheek after he snaps his gloves on, just to get him a little more focused, “want to tell me what’s gone on?” 

“Um,” think Jeno think “I tripped over skating home and I uh, caught myself on the edge of a wall,” 

“You’re lucky it’s not that deep, it’ll only need a couple of stitches at most,” Doyoung replies, glancing over at Jaehyun. Neither of them buys the story one bit. 

Within minutes Jeno’s eyebrow is stitched back together, Doyoung finishing the job with two small strips of tape over the healing cut. Considering that Jeno sat through the entire process without a word of complaint, Doyoung deems him too out of it to go to training, deciding to send him back to the apartment with Yuta.

“Hey,” Doyoung places a gentle hand of Jeno’s knee, just to grab his attention, “Jaehyun is just going to take you home, rest up okay?”

“So no training?” Jeno glances at both of his superiors, already knowing their answer. 

“No training today Jeno-yah,” 

With little resistance from the younger, Jaehyun guides him back to the apartment, quietly wondering the deeper meaning behind the injury as he does. He’s easily steered towards the sofa, quickly being entertained by the TV as Jaehyun looks around for Yuta. He catches him in the kitchen, rooting around for snacks. 

“Hey, look after Jeno for me? He’s a bit out of it right now, plus he managed to split his eyebrow open,” Jaehyun murmurs under his breath, knowing that he needs to go soon otherwise he’ll raise suspicions of the younger team. He’s never late.

“Why? What happened?”

“He’s got some bullshit story that I don’t buy, maybe you can coax it out of him, I’ve gotta go, see you later,”

With that, Jaehyun disappears out of the door, leaving Yuta in the kitchen. Yuta isn’t exactly adept at situations like this, but he’s good enough at comforting people, which by the looks of Jeno, is very much needed. He forgets the snacks, carefully sitting on the sofa, wondering if Jeno is going to say something first. The silence stretches out, it’s not particularly uncomfortable, but it hurts Yuta to see him like this. Sort of zoned out, the tape above his eyebrow contrasting the redness of the surrounding skin, it’s unnerving. 

“Anything you wanna watch kiddo?” Yuta starts, knowing that the two of them are just going to sit there in silence until Jaehyun gets back if he doesn’t. 

Jeno turns to him, a certain look in his eyes, his hands clasped tightly on his knees, his body too coiled up to be comfortable. A protective wave immediately crashes over him, the need to crush Jeno in his arms becomes overwhelming. 

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” Yuta faces Jeno, one hand already placed delicately on his back. 

“I’m just tired hyung, really, really tired,” Jeno replies, not bothering with keeping up appearances anymore. 

“That’s okay, do you want an actual bed to sleep on or are you alright here?” Yuta preemptively opens out his arm, already guessing the option that Jeno will choose. 

“It’s fine hyung,” Jeno slots into the awaiting gap in Yuta’s arms, ending up against the sofa back, his head carefully laid just underneath Yuta’s collarbones. His back is being held too tightly for his complete comfort due to the extensive amount of bruising but he is not going to mention it. Instead, he just allows Yuta to hold him, relishing in the feeling of his hair being played with. It’s been a while since he’s enjoyed this level of comfort with one of the members. 

Yuta doesn’t allow himself to drift off like Jeno has, his mind racing too rapidly to even contemplate sleep. The thought pinches under his skin, but it’s hard to comprehend Jeno being involved in any kind of nefarious activity — although he is a full member of one of the most violent gangs in South Korea. There is something incredibly wrong, and he can’t figure out if Jeno is doing the deed or if he’s being exploited himself, but his senses say it’s most likely the latter. He holds a watchful gaze over the rises and dips of Jeno’s chest, feeling as if he takes his eyes off him for once second he’ll stop breathing. His hand gently brushes up and down Jeno’s back, hoping that the younger stays asleep even as the rest of the members return home. He still feels uneasy, but whatever Jeno’s hiding cannot be hidden forever. 

—

After the close run-in with Jaehyun, Doyoung and Yuta, Jeno attempts to keep mostly to himself. He starts training more in private, away from Jaehyun’s prying eyes. Usually, before training starts, Jaehyun will help wrap his hands for him, he’s not yet able to do it for himself so if he cannot be bothered he goes bare-knuckled on the punching bags, deciding that at least that injury is explainable. Gang work starts to pick up, the pace of schools fastens as the end of the academic year begins to rush forward. Just to avoid the bullying he’s skipping school more frequently than not, helping out Taeyong whenever he can to try and fill the gaps in his day. He knows the leader will not be pleased if he ever catches what he’s up to, but to save himself from more bruising, he’ll take the chance. 

Like every other day, he leaves the house for school on time, getting his normal chaste kiss on the temple from Mark. To the rest of the gang, everything seems in place. The only thing that changes is that he rarely comes out of his room for anything other than eating or to shower. If not he stays hidden away, under the thinly veiled guise of studying. In reality, he’s willing the pain to disappear, he can’t stand for extended amounts of time anymore, nor can he walk that far without feeling incredibly out of breath due to the bruising of his chest. At this point he is almost asking for someone to find out, just to put his misery to an end. Maybe he shouldn’t have asked for that one. 

—

Just because Jeno is rarely in homeroom, it doesn’t mean his tutor doesn’t notice him at all. He’s slightly on the younger side Mr Lim, his hair not yet touching a hint of grey. He’s constantly keeping tabs on all his tutees, mentally marking their comings and goings from the mandatory morning period. He’s noticed that Jeno either skips completely or comes in for certain lessons. To say he was concerned is another story, Jeno is on his priority list of things he needs to figure out, fast. 

The day Jeno walks in limping, slightly, shying away from the rest of his classmates, placing himself in the corner and barely looking up, Mr Lim takes action. He calls Jeno back, messing with some papers, trying not to scare him off too much. 

“Sit down Jeno,” Mr Lim speaks softly, non-threateningly, hoping that this will allow Jeno to open up a little. 

“Uh, not to question, why did you call me back?” Jeno is questioning right now. His heart rate speeds, his breath picking up just a little as the seconds' tick past. 

“I think you know why, what’s been going on with you recently?” 

“Uhhhhh,” Jeno’s mind races ahead of the conversation. He’s stuck at the worst crossroad ever, either reveal the bullying, or his gang membership and if Taeyong finds out about both options he’s dead-meat. What the fuck does he say, he can’t elude to a rough home situation, that’ll indicate abuse and get him into all sorts of trouble. The school do know about his father’s death though. They just think he moved in with his older brother, Lee Taeyong. 

“Just my dad’s death has been on my mind recently,” Jeno answers, tugging on his sleeve nervously. 

“Is that why you joined a gang?” 

Jeno’s look of shock must have comical as Mr Lim’s lips curve upward, his body remaining in his previous relaxed position. 

“How did you know?” 

“I took a guess, also that tattoo you have is a tad obvious,” 

“You’re, you’re not gonna tell anyone... Are you?” 

“Jeno, you’re out of here in what, two, three months? Telling administration will just get the police involved, you’d drop out of school before you graduate and it’s just going to drive you deeper into gang culture. I’m not going to risk it,” 

“Oh my god, thank you so much,” 

“On one condition Jeno, start turning up regularly, I’ll be forced to intervene if you keep skipping,” 

With that Jeno departs the classroom, his thoughts rushing around. Fuck. Now he has no way to avoid his bullies unless he confronts them head-on. That’s never going to end well. 

—

With the deal with Mr Lim settled, Jeno escapes a call ‘home’ to Taeyong. However, it does mean he has to be in school all the time now, and that means he cannot avoid the bullies anymore like usual. It’s different this time, for some reason they don’t approach him at school, they merely glare at him from the sidelines, always seeming to be watching. After hearing some of Taeyong and Johnny’s stories, both pre and post-gang, he’s not intimidated by a bunch of high-school bullies. It does put him on edge though, slightly slipping towards that ledge. 

He’s constantly looking over his shoulder as he leaves school. He has to continue with his day as if the weird day at school hasn’t just happened. So, he gets straight on his skateboard and goes to grab the backpack full of drugs for his run after-school. He has about seven spots to hit before he’s expected home, which because he didn’t get a beating, he should be quicker than the past couple months. What is not accounted for, is the group of bullies that have been watching him all day following closely on their bikes. 

It’s not long after Jeno collects the backpack from its place in one of the gang’s stash houses before he gets tripped. Without any force he lands straight on his front, his skateboard escaping out from under his feet. He’s surrounded in seconds, the bikes abandoned just out of reach. Unlike the times before, Jeno knows he needs to protect the backpack in his hands, if he comes home empty-handed, he has no clue what he could be in for. 

“Give it up Jeno-yah,” the supposed ring-leader says, looking towards the rest of the circle to back him up. 

“It’s my school bag, what do you want with it?” Jeno tries to play it off, banking on the fact that they don’t know about his second life. 

“We know,”

“Know what?” Jeno is stubborn, gripping the bag just a little tighter. 

“You’re a drug runner for a gang, you’re lucky that we’re just tryna score, otherwise we’d snitch on your ass. Now give it to us before we take it from you,”

When it seems unlikely that Jeno is ever going to relinquish his hold on that bag, so they move him, hauling him up and brutally smashing him into the alley wall. His head knocks back, hard, causing black spots to dance in his line of sight. Jeno doesn’t stop holding on until they slice at his palms with blades, kick his ribs in, rough up that ‘pretty face’ of his. Even after they have the backpack, they break his skateboard in two, so he has no chance of getting home before anyone gets worried. They take off laughing, relishing in the idea of the drugs they’ve just snatched — not even thinking about the consequences of that at all. 

His palms are slick with blood, making it difficult to grip his phone. He wipes them roughly against his jeans, aggravating the gashes to a greater extent. He knows that he has no choice but to call someone to come get him, lest he wants to get picked up by some rival gang, or before he passes out completely. He racks his already lagging mind on who to call, sense would say Doyoung, but knowing that its Friday he’s probably busy. He can’t disturb Taeyong, Johnny or Taeil, or anyone in his unit either. Out of his choices he clicks on Yukhei, pressing the phone to his ear, he hopes he picks up quickly.

‘Jeno? Why are you calling? Did something go wrong on your run?’

_‘Hyung, I got jumped’_

‘I’m on my way’

The line goes dead. Jeno’s hand falls to his side, clasping the phone as tightly as his hand will allow. He can feel his consciousness fading away as every second passes, internally begging that Yukhei is close. 

He can barely hear it in his periphery, the loud, growing sounds of a car engine approaching. It takes great effort for his eyes not to slip shut, knowing that he’s about to either get picked up by a rival gang or saved by one of his members. The sign of relief he lets out when Yukhei comes running into his line of sight is barely audible, but it’s there. Soon enough he’s got Kun’s hand on his shoulder, a reassuring ‘it’ll be okay’ close after. Everything is spinning and the motion of the car makes him want to vomit, but when the blurred vision of the base comes into view he relaxes slightly and proceeds to throw the content of his stomach all down his and Yukhei’s front. 

“Sorry hyung,”

“Save the apologies for later Jeno,”

The second he can hear the bustling movements of Doyoung surrounding him, he gives out, his body becoming limp where it’s led on the table. 

Doyoung did not expect to see a bloody Jeno being carried into the room when he woke up this morning, but expect the unexpected, right? Immediately he motions to Jungwoo, one of 10 men stood crowding around his door. Seconds after Jeno is down, Kun is on the phone to Taeyong, knowing that he’d want to be informed of the situation regardless of whatever he’s busy with. Doyoung takes a glance over Jeno’s body, mentally noting that nothing seems life-threatening currently. He examines fast, identifying bruised ribs, but otherwise no signs of internal bleeding. 

“Jungwoo, prep some local, I’ll need to numb his hands before we stitch them up,” Doyoung calls back, gently turning Jeno’s hands to estimate how deep the cut extents, “everyone go upstairs and wait for the rest of them to come back, Yukhei, get changed,” 

With that the concerned members begrudgingly move from the doorway, making their way up the stairs. Doyoung lets out a deep breath, taking the needle from Jungwoo’s hand. The sharp scratch doesn’t seem to stir Jeno all that much, only causing him to jerk his head to the left slightly. Whilst they wait for the local anaesthetic to kick in, Doyoung snaps a glove off, moving to rest his hand in Jeno’s blood crusted hair. With some gentle poking and coaxing, Jeno does seem to regain a little consciousness, which relaxes Doyoung to the tiniest degree.

“Hyung, I can’t feel my hands,” Jeno says, his voice wobbling as his forces the words out. 

“I had to numb them so I can stitch them up,”

“Where’s Jaehyun-hyung?”

“He’s out right now, but he’s probably on his way back honey,” Doyoung is met with silence, a pained look in his eyes. “Jeno, I’m gonna stitch your hand back together now,” Doyoung warns the younger just in case.

Doyoung is quick with the needle, knowing the second the rest of the boys get back to the base it will be difficult to keep them away. He’s halfway through Jeno’s second hand when the door bursts open, Taeyong moving past Jungwoo and towards the end of the cot, Jaehyun following close behind. Doyoung gives them a look from his position, still on the final stitches to close Jeno’s hand. 

“What the fuck happened?” Jaehyun asking no one in particular, his voice dripping with venom. 

“He got jumped Jaehyun-ah, try not to be too loud I’m trying to work over here,” Doyoung responds, his voice as steady as his hands. 

Unlike Jaehyun, Taeyong knows to hold his tongue when Doyoung’s working on someone. Instead, he just stands next to Jeno, keeping him conscious while Jaehyun broods. 

“Jaehyun don’t just stand there, clean the blood off his hands, and someone go grab some more clothes for him?” Doyoung easily demands, with Mark rushing off back to his apartment to grab some of Jeno’s clothes. 

“Do you know anything else, or just that he got jumped?” Taeyong murmurs, glancing at both Doyoung and Johnny as he asks. 

“Ask Yukhei and Kun, they’re the ones who picked him up,” Doyoung replies, he can already see Johnny running off to go ask. 

“How is he?” Taeyong turns his attention solely to Jeno once more, leaving Johnny to figure out the intricate twists of gang-culture. 

“He’ll live that’s for sure, some nasty cuts to the palms, plus some surface wounds to the face. Doesn’t seem like he’s internally bleeding, just that whoever jumped him bruised a few ribs. Also a concussion,” 

Taeyong lets out a sigh of relief, placing his shaking hand on the cabinet ledge to steady it, “I’m staying until he’s ready to go upstairs, I can kick Jaehyun out if you want,” 

“Jaehyun and Jeno are close, it’s fine as long as he’s not in my way,” 

Taeyong takes his original position again, his hand placed gently in Jeno’s hair. Jaehyun finishes cleaning off his hands and is starting to scrub the blood off of his own now. Mark is back with the extra set of clothes, Doyoung just needs to tape up his face and he’ll be ready to be sofa-bound for the next few days. 

“Jeno, can you sit up for me while I fix your face?” 

Wincing as he’s moved, Jaehyun tries to lift Jeno as carefully as possible, leaning him against Taeyong. Jungwoo has prepped the tape for Doyoung, so it’s an easy fix. 

“Taeyong,” Doyoung grabs his attention from Jeno, “I think we should probably get Jeno upstairs, he can have a bath to wash all the blood off him and then he’s essentially tied to his bed until I say so,” 

“Hey, Jeno-yah, we’re gonna move you upstairs now, is that okay?” Taeyong asks, in which the younger nods slightly, his eyes preemptively closing shut. 

Jaehyun carefully gathers the boy in his arms, taking the lead upstairs. Only Taeyong follows, opening doors for the pair. The entire gang is gathered in the main apartment, with Yukhei looking surprisingly vomit-free. Jaehyun walks Jeno straight to Taeyong’s en-suite, per his instruction, while the leader tries to reassure the masses. Taeyong is still on edge from the situation. Who jumped Jeno? Are they going to come back for more? He has no clue. After explaining to the rest of the members, he sneaks off to the kitchen to make some coffee, feeling like he’ll be awake for a few more hours at least. 

He’s interrupted with a short, sharp call of his name merely seconds into his drink. He pushes the mug away, rushing off to the direction of his room. It’s Jaehyun, propping up a clean, yet shirtless, Jeno, his eyes looking watery as he does. Immediately he can see why, Jeno’s torso is littered with bruising, black and purple streaks run up his sides, with boot-shaped patches down his back and front. Most of them look days old, not exactly the fresh set he might have expected.

“Leave it to me,” Taeyong whispers, grabbing Jeno’s top off the side, easily replacing Jaehyun from holding Jeno upright. 

Taeyong slips Jeno’s top over his body carefully, making sure he doesn’t brush the extent of the bruising. Wordlessly, he leads Jeno towards his master bed, helping him up into the covers. Taeyong hates having these conversations, he hates seeing any of his members in pain, especially the younger ones. 

“Are you mad at me hyung?”

“No, baby no, why would you think that?”

“The backpack got taken, I did try to stop them though,”

“Jeno, it was only some weed and club drugs, nothing to lose sleep from. Who actually did this to you?”

“Some guys from school,” Jeno whispers, nearly inaudible. Taeyong can sense that he’s been keeping this under wraps for weeks, if not months.

“Why didn’t you tell us before?”

“I could handle it hyung, it was fine,”

“It’s not fine, you must have been getting beaten for weeks and yet you continued with training,”

“But I’m okay,”

“Jeno, you’re not okay,” Taeyong’s words cause the boy to look away, down at the stitching lining his palms, “hyung isn’t mad, I’m just worried about you,”

“You’ve got an entire gang to run, why are you worried about me?” Jeno has that glassy look in his eyes, the one that threatens to spill over into tears. 

“Oh Jeno, I’ll always worry about you and the rest of the gang,” Taeyong pulls Jeno into his arms with little resistance, the smaller boy starting to cry into his chest. 

“They just kept going hyung, all I did was stop them from taking this kid’s lunch money ages ago,” 

“You did the right thing Jeno-yah, I’m sorry that I didn’t notice sooner,” 

Jeno doesn’t reply, the crying taking over most of his cognitive functionality. Taeyong reserves himself to sit in silence, carefully caressing the younger’s back as he coaxes him to fall asleep. He knows the whole gang is itching to see Jeno, but considering the state, he’s in they’ll have to wait until the morning. Taeyong waits until Jeno’s tears cease and he falls into some type of fragile sleep before he gets up to deal with the rest of the gang. He drapes the younger boy in the duvet, seeing him relaxed, the previous pain not apparent on his face, calms Taeyong down considerably. 

Jaehyun is loitering around the door to Taeyong’s bedroom, waiting to see Jeno. The second the leader opens the door, Jaehyun puts his phone away, looking at Taeyong with apprehension in his eyes. 

“He’s sleeping, but you can go in,” Taeyong says to Jaehyun before he goes off to see the rest of the gang leadership. 

Taeyong walks into the kitchen, seeing the coffee mug he abandoned earlier. Johnny and Taeil are waiting, leaning against opposite sides of the doorframe leading into the living room where the majority of the gang are gathered. Taeil notices his presence in the room, turning slightly away to face him. Taeyong takes a shaky breath, leaning against the cabinet sides. Both of the men turn, with Johnny continuing to stay close to the door to keep an eye on the gang. Taeil moves closer, taking a seat at the table, ready to hear the full story. 

“It’s not a rival insurgent gang. It’s a group of bullies at Jeno’s school that were beating him daily because he stopped them from taking a younger years’ lunch money,” the statement commands silence within the room. Both of them cannot believe it was just a few bullies at school, not the rise of a gang that Jeno had encountered, “I’m going to his school tomorrow,”

“We’re coming too,” Johnny clarifies. 

“Jaehyun will want to come as well,” Taeil expresses. 

“I just can’t believe he didn’t say anything. The pain in his eyes. He kept it all hidden, all of it, just because he thought that we were too busy to deal with it,”

“Taeyong, you can’t solve everything, if he didn’t want you do know, you wouldn’t have found out unless he was forced to,”

“This isn’t your fault,” Johnny reinforces, his gaze falling back onto the younger members of the gang. 

“I just feel responsible,”

“We’ll sort this tomorrow yeah? Right now they could use a leader,” Taeil pats Taeyong’s shoulder as he walks back into the living room, he said what was needed, hopefully, it will prevent the leader from getting too hung up on this. 

That’s exactly what Taeyong does. He immediately draws attention to himself just with his mere presence. He sits on the edge of the closest sofa, pulling Jisung onto his lap as he does. After the ‘Jeno Incident,’ he’ll make sure to drive it into the youngest members that no issue is ever too small for him to sort out. 

“Jeno’s asleep in my room with Jaehyun right now. Turns out it was a group of bullies from his school that did this to him. Me, Johnny, Taeil, Kun and Jaehyun are going to sort it out tomorrow,”

“He’s gonna be okay though hyung?” Chenle’s small voice asks, muffled from his position on Yukhei’s chest. 

“He’ll be okay, just stuck in bed for the next few days,” 

With that, the tension in the room physically dissipates. The older members start getting up from their positions on the sofa, taking the younger ones with them, soon only Taeyong is left with Jisung. He ushers the youngest to bed with the rest, feeling that weight fall off his shoulders steadily as he goes from room to room. Jaemin and Donghyuck are with Yuta and Doyoung, Chenle and Renjun sleep happily in the middle of the china-line pile. Ten and Johnny preside over Jisung, with the rest of the gang all retiring to their respective beds. Everyone is experiencing a little dash of protectiveness over their younger members, although each of them is perfectly fine. 

Taeyong retreats to his room, locking the apartment door before he does. He changes quickly and silently, not wanting to wake up Jeno. Jaehyun is still somehow awake, his eyes drooping even as he is mid-whisper-conversation with Taeyong. He grabs the handgun from its holster and puts it carefully on the bedside table, as usual, he can see that Jaehyun has done the same. Wrapped up in his warmest hoodie, he slips in beside Jeno, placing a protective hand on the younger’s back. The boy in question has curled himself into Jaehyun’s front, his nose closely pressed into Jaehyun’s neck. Taeyong slots in behind him, instantly becoming the big spoon. From his position, he can feel the shallow, yet steady breaths Jeno is taking, this, combined with the heaviness of the day, allow him to fall asleep so quickly. 

—

Everyone sleeps in the next day, except for the leadership. Both Taeyong and Jaehyun manage to escape Jeno’s grasp without waking him up, a miracle. Knowing that the gang will be safe in Doyoung and Yuta’s hands, the five of them make their way down to the school, prepared to be civil, but also to crack some skulls if necessary. 

Taeyong leads the charge into the administrators' office, the cars parked hastily outside the entrance. 

“Can we see the principal please?” Taeyong asks, politely. The receptionist seems shocked, probably recognising his face from the news instantly. 

“Is it about a student?”

“Lee Jeno,”

“You’re his brother?” The receptionist replies incredulously, almost not believing the scenario they’re in.

“You could say that I am,”

It takes minutes for the principal to arrive from along the corridor, his facial expression already tightened at the prospect of having a sit down meeting with the most ruthless gang leaders in Seoul, and his four equally unnerving accomplices. He leads them into his office, sitting down behind the desk before shaking the hands of the five, not having any clue what this surprise meeting could be about. 

“Lee Jeno,” Taeyong starts, gathering that this principal knows nothing of the situation that's been unfolding under his watch.

“What about him?”

“What do you think of him?”

“He’s a quiet kid, haven’t had any trouble with him, good grades,”

“Do you tolerate bullying at this school, sir?” Jaehyun asks, his voice drawling as he sits sideways on in his chair. 

“Absolutely not,” he can already tell where this is leading. 

“Why did you not realise that Jeno was being physically bullied for about two months then?”

The penny drops. That’s why they’re here. The most powerful gang in South Korea has ended up adopting one of his students, and that’s been managed to be kept hidden from him for how long?

“We’re not here to intimidate, or anything of a sinister nature, we just want to know why you obviously didn’t know,” Johnny follows up, his hands falling onto the back of Taeyong’s chair. 

“Honestly, I didn’t know,”

“I want them expelled,”

“I can’t just expel them,”

“Why not?”

“Look, I need evidence, witnesses, I can’t just expel whoever these boys are because you’ve walked in here and told me to do so,”

“They stole our drugs, abused one of our members and unless you want to be indebted to a gang leader for the rest of your life, I would choose to expel them,”

“What am I going to tell the board? The parents?”

“Figure it out,” Kun responds, turning around to leave with the others.

“Or we’ll do it for you,” Taeyong flashes the metal of his handgun as he walks out the door, knowing that the issue should be easily resolved. 

Before long, the five of them are back home, trying to regulate the over-protective nature of the gang. Jaemin, Renjun, Donghyuck, Chenle and Jisung need to go to school, and the rest of them need to continue working, but they’re all gathered around the sofa, sitting around Jeno. Doyoung has Jeno’s head in his lap, his hands weaving gently through his hair. Taeyong is melting at the sight, but he can’t have the gang come to a standstill for the next week. 

Soon everyone’s off, back to school, or running their inner-gang activities. Taeyong and Jaehyun are left, knowing that, per Doyoung’s instructions, that Jeno shouldn’t be left alone for long amounts of time. His bandages need changing, plus he should get moving just a little bit as well. So Taeyong stays with him while Jaehyun runs his shit and vice versa. That’s until everyone gets home and starts coddling him in the evening. 

—

Even when he’s sofa-bound, unable to move distances quickly, literally needing to depend on others to pick things up or change the channel, Jeno still tries to do it all on his own. Both Jaehyun and Taeyong don’t want to seem like they’re hovering unnecessarily around him, so they leave him be to shower or when he’s in the middle of binge-watching a TV show. This does create some situations. 

After he’s done showering, he does manage to get stuck inside his (read: Yukhei’s) jumper. With his hands raw from the stitches, he’s unable to get out. It’s becoming increasingly hot and claustrophobic in the jumper, and it’s starting to panic him a little. Muffled from the fabric, he calls out,

“Hyung,”

Jaehyun, having done hours of stealth training over the years, hears the muted shout from his seat in the living room. He immediately rises from the sofa, running towards the bathroom. It takes strength not to laugh at Jeno’s predicament, but soon he’s dragging the jumper down off his Jeno’s head, placing his warm hands on Jeno’s shoulders.

“You okay there?”

Jeno doesn’t meet Jaehyun’s eyes, obviously embarrassed about the situation. Sensing something that Jeno would rather leave unsaid, Jaehyun leads him into the living room, setting him down on the sofa. He pulls the blanket over the both of them, quieting the TV just a notch. 

“What’s wrong?”

_“Nothing, I’m fine,”_

** _“You don’t seem fine,”_ **

—

Jaehyun was never a revenge filled person. Not before the gang and certainly not whilst he’s been in the gang. He’s felt that small prick of rage when one of the members comes back beaten and bloody from a deal gone wrong, but he’s never had the desire to make the wrongful pay for their actions. This time around, something doesn’t sit right with him. Whether it be the fact that those boys are just roaming around like the kings of their school, or the recent memory of Jeno, unconscious on the table, bleeding from his hands, fills him with an indescribable melting pot of emotion, threatening to boil over. 

During a late-night drive back from a deal, Jaehyun confesses all of this to Taeyong, almost feeling guilty as he does. Taeyong, in a way, agrees. They sit in silence the rest of the way home, their faces morphing into concern and sympathy when they see Jeno, curled up on the sofa. It’s difficult not to jump into action, to pull themselves backwards over Jeno. 

Taeyong ponders over Jaehyun’s rant, over the idea of beating those bullies the same way, and decides, he should ask Jeno about it, see what he wants to do about it if anything. 

— 

Taeyong manages to catch Jeno, alone, for the first time in days. Someone, mainly Doyoung, Johnny and Yuta, is hovering over him at all times, it’s hard to get him on his own. He succeeds after waiting for Jeno to get his dressings changed, carefully intercepting the boy when he’s walking back up to the apartment. 

“Jeno-ah, can we talk?” Taeyong calls out from the top of the stairs. 

Jeno merely replies with a tired nod, following Taeyong into the kitchen. He can’t quite figure out what his leader is asking about, he doesn’t have the energy to find out either. Taeyong slides a mug of hot chocolate towards him as he takes a seat, almost like this was an ambush if anything. Taeyong leans against the counter, across from him, an expression that cannot quite he read painted on his face. 

“Jeno, those boys, they won’t be kicked out of school,” Taeyong knows this to be true, he sent out one of his men to tail the group of boys for a couple of days, mainly to see what they did with his stolen drugs, “do you want me to do anything about it?” 

“What do you mean? Beat them up? Kill them?” Jeno has been hardened by his new gang lifestyle, and he’s guessing the lines on which Taeyong is walking on. 

“Only if you want to Jeno,” 

“I just want them gone, I don’t want anyone else to suffer because of them,” 

Taeyong rounds the table, taking a knee next to the younger, “that's what I thought you were going to say,” Jeno leans against Taeyong’s firm stance, burying his head into Taeyong’s neck. 

“Thanks, hyung,”

“Anything for you Jeno-ah,” 

—

Jeno witnesses Taeyong walk through the door the day after their conversation. He rids himself of his gun and knives, placing them on the nearby table. Sinking into the sofa, he lies down in such a way that it’s a veiled invitation for Jeno to cuddle. Jeno is informed that, with a few pulled strings and a couple cashed in favours, his school has a new principal that expelled those boys first thing today. Taeyong smiles wide at the squeeze he receives, the sigh of complete relaxation that comes after. With Jeno tucked into his side, his warm arm draped over Jeno’s back, everything is right in the world for that one second.

**Author's Note:**

> did you enjoy? please leave kudos and comments, it really helps with my self-confidence !!!!!!! it makes my day also !!!!!! 
> 
> \- L <3


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